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News Release
FOR RELEASE
February 28, 2002
RAND NAMES CARL BILDT, FORMER PRIME MINISTER OF SWEDEN,
AS ITS FIRST TRUSTEE FROM OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES
SANTA MONICA, CA, February 28 RAND President and CEO James A. Thomson today announced the election of Carl Bildt, former prime minister of Sweden, to the RAND Board of Trustees. He is the first trustee elected from outside the United States.
Bildt, a member of the Swedish parliament from 1979 to 2001, served as prime minister from 1991 to 1994. Most recently he served as special envoy to the Balkans for the United Nations from May 1999 to July 2001. He negotiated and signed the treaty on the accession of Sweden to the European Union, and was chairman of the International Democratic Union from 1992 to 1999. In 2000, he headed the Wise Men's Group appointed by the European Space Agency to review its role and evolution within the European community.
"We are fortunate to have a person with Carl Bildt's depth of experience to complement our current research agenda," Thomson said. "His knowledge and abiding interest in a broad set of policy issues will be instrumental in charting new directions for RAND."
"I'm honored to be asked to serve as trustee of the world's first and finest think-tank, and particularly to be the first trustee from outside the United States," comments Bildt. "We live in a world and a time when the profound intellectual approach to key international issues that is a hallmark for RAND is of rapidly increasing importance."
In 1995 Bildt was named the European Union's Special Representative to the Former Yugoslavia and co-chairman of the International Conference on the Former Yugoslavia. After serving as co-chairman of the Dayton Peace Accords, which laid the groundwork for peace between Bosnia and Herzegovina, the United Nations named Bildt the first High Representative of the international community in Bosnia, where he monitored the implementation of the peace agreement until 1997.
Before leaving office as prime minister, Bildt launched, then chaired the IT Commission which continues to promote policies geared toward the use of information technologies in Sweden. Today he sits on the boards of a number of information technology companies, is a senior advisor to the venture capital firm IT-Provider and is chairing a committee established by The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to study future Internet governance issues.
He was a member of the Swedish Royal Advisory Council on Foreign Affairs from 1984 to 1988 and has served on various defense review commissions, including the Submarine Defence Commission of 1982. He is currently on the advisory boards of the Center of European Reform in London and the Aspen Institute. Bildt is also associated with the boards of several venture capital firms and international energy companies.
He holds various senior honors and decorations from France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Estonia and Latvia. He also holds an honorary degree from the University of St Andrews in Scotland, where he is a fellow in its Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence. He is also a member of the RAND Europe advisory board.
Bildt's association with RAND dates back to the early 1980s when he was involved in foreign and security policy work and frequently consulted with RAND researchers working on similar interests.
RAND is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. RAND Europe is an independent subsidiary of RAND with offices in the Netherlands, Germany and the United Kingdom.
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